1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information management in image forming systems containing an image forming apparatus and an image processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, image forming systems are known in which a client PC and an image forming apparatus are connected via a network and print jobs are sent from the client PC via the network to the image forming apparatus to carry out printing. With this type of system, a configuration is well known in which a print controller, which carries out management and the like of print jobs that are sent in from the client PC via the network, is provided between the client PC and the image forming apparatus. For example, there is a form as shown in FIG. 1 in which an image forming apparatus 13 connects to a network 16 via a print controller 12. This configuration releases the image forming apparatus from managing print jobs and other burdens.
Since the print controller and the image forming apparatus in the above-described image forming system are independent apparatuses, cases arise in which one or the other of these is to be replaced. It is desirable that various conditions for which settings have been made up until then (for example, paper information defined by a user) can be passed on to the replacement device. For this reason, image forming systems generally have a function for backing up information.
An example of a backup in image forming apparatuses is a backup of information in the system and an SRAM, which is basically carried out by service personnel using tools intended for service personnel. Another well-known configuration is one that can be carried out whenever required by the user on the client PC, wherein a backup can be made of documents and address book information saved within the image forming apparatus. Furthermore, there is another configuration in which a backup function in the print controller is started up from a print controller management application installed on the client PC, thereby enabling backup of system and telephone book information and the like. Also, JP 2005-035229A describes regularly backing up important information on a printer control board to a controller.
However, a restore process of recovering information that was backed up using the above-described backup function involves simply copying the backed up state to the print controller or the image forming apparatus. Consequently, with an ordinary restore process, information is set in the state of when either the image forming apparatus or the print controller was backed up, which gives rise to problems such as the following.
For example, with a system in which the print controller is connected to the image forming apparatus, a configuration is achieved in which information defined by the user is held and this is used to enable processing for image formation. Paper information is a typical example of such user-defined information. The print controller and the image forming apparatus hold paper information created by the user. Paper information that is generated by the user and held in the print controller includes information that cannot be used in engine control of the image forming apparatus such as information (brand names) and the like that is shown to enable user selection of paper and the like. On the other hand, the image forming apparatus holds information (parameters such as fixing temperature) for controlling the image forming apparatus (for example, the print engine) in accordance with the above-mentioned paper information that is held by the print controller. A common ID is conferred between the print controller and the image forming apparatus to each set of paper data contained in the respective paper information of the print controller and the image forming apparatus. In this way, correct paper and printing parameters can be selected by instructions from the print controller.
As mentioned earlier, under such conditions there are times when a different print controller is to be connected to the image forming apparatus such as when the print controller has broken down. In this case, the associations between the paper information of the print controller and the image forming apparatus become inappropriate if the reconnection is simply performed as is. In this case, when paper to be used is selected by referencing the paper information of the print controller, a different paper may end up being used on the image forming apparatus side, and printing will not be able to be carried out using the paper intended by the user. Furthermore, if the data of the paper information for the print controller is backed up in the image forming apparatus, it will be possible to return to the state that was backed up. However, the print controller returns to the state of the time when the image forming apparatus made the backup, and there is a possibility that paper information necessary to the user will be lost. For example, when the print controller possesses paper information that was set in a previous environment, that paper information may end up being deleted and it will be impossible to make use of it.